The Scientist
by Tsunami.Samurai
Summary: A story of the 12 years Remus Lupin spent in the muggle world, from the day he received news of that fateful Halloween night, until the time he takes up the role as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. A story of how Remus copes with loss and love away from the world that he comes from.


**The Scientist**

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

**From Remus Lupin's POV**

_Knock, knock, knock._

Why is someone knocking on my door at such an hour? It had to be around 6:30 in the morning. Maybe if I stay here, the person knocking on my door will go away.

_Knock, knock, knock._

"I know you are there Remus. And I need to talk to you. This is important." The person at my door sounded like an old, wizened man. It had to be Albus Dumbledore. Why would he be here? If it were business for the Order of the Phoenix, surely it could have waited until a more respectable hour.

Fine.

"I'll be there in a minute!" I decided to yell, as I needed to find my clothes first.

This should not have been hard as my room was not the largest of rooms. The cream coloured carpet was strewn with papers, gadgets and clothes. A window took up most of the far wall. I had a table and chairs, with a small bookcase above them along another wall. My king single bed was in the centre of the room, with the head leaning against the wall opposite the bookcase. A bedside table was on the right hand side of the bed, made of wood with a lamp and other little gadgets and papers on it. Finally, there was a reasonably large, wooden wardrobe that made up the fourth wall. However, I did not bother to open it. Instead I just took some clothes off the floor, quickly changed, and ran to my study to gather my robe.

I looked around the study. There was a single table and chair in the centre of the room. There were piles and piles of paper. I never liked throwing documents out incase I needed them. Although a bit of filing would not hurt. There were also many photos in here of my marauder friends. They were some of my most dearest possessions. There was a small wardrobe in the same place as the one in my bedroom. Finally, after finding my robe on the back of the chair, I ran down the stairs to the door.

I quickly unlocked the door to see Albus. However, he did not have that usual glint in his eyes. In fact, he had dark rings around them. He seemed rather unkempt, stressed and anxious. He reminded me of how I felt after a full moon.

"Sorry for the wait, sir. Please come in. Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, Remus." Albus seemed quite distracted. Very unusual.

I led Albus to the living room. I flicked my wand at the fireplace, the centrepiece of the room, to set a fire going. I also magicked the curtains away from the windows that stood proudly next to the front door. I then offered Albus a reasonably comfortable chair around the fireplace and took one opposite him.

I stared at him curiously, but patiently, and waited to see if he would come out with what he wanted to see me about. After a moment or two, he looked up at me with a very hesitant gaze.

"Remus. I do not know how to tell you this..."

"You often told me, when I was at school, that it was always best to start from the beginning." I said this softly. He did have a small smile plastered on his face after this comment, which I thought to be good, even though the smile did not meet his eyes.

"Last night, James and Lily were murdered by Lord Voldemort."

I flinched violently, most likely paling a few shades, both at the name and the news. I remained silent as Albus continued, unable to speak.

"Voldemort tried to kill Harry but the spell rebounded. Harry is still alive and Voldemort has disappeared. Hagrid brought Harry to me at Privet Drive, where he will be staying with his Aunt and Uncle. I believe that is the only place that Lily's protection spell on Harry will work."

I could not even speak. It was as if I had been kicked in the stomach, shocked and unable to breathe. I tried to speak, but did not know what to say to all of this.

"What protection spell?" I finally asked.

"It seems that when Voldemort attempted to attack Harry, the spell rebounded because Lily had put some sort of ancient spell on him before she was killed. I do not fully understand what it was, but it seemed to have saved Harry out of love. Unfortunately, the spell had some sort of familial bonding to it, meaning that Harry would only remain safe under the guardianship of his only remaining relatives, his Aunt and Uncle in Surrey."

Albus hesitated, trying to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say next.

"During the night, Sirius found Peter and killed him and many other muggles. The only thing left behind was Peter's finger and a big dent in the road. It is believed that Sirius told Voldemort where the Potter's location was and then went out to kill Peter. He was sent to Azkaban just after the incident. If you have any information, please do feel free to tell me.'

I looked at him with a blank expression. I just shook my head. How could this be possible? I will never be seeing my friends again. And all because of that traitorous Sirius Black.

'...Get out'.

Albus looked at me sympathetically, but did not move out of uncertainty.

'I SAID GET OUT!'

I left. I ran upstairs, ran to my study. I slammed the door behind me and locked it. The old man could find his own way out. Out of incomprehensible rage, I suddenly tipped over all the piles of paper, off the desk and all across the floor.

I went to the photos of us Marauders. I hated them for doing this to me. I ripped the photos up into tiny little bits and littered them across the floor. I started to cry. Tears were coming freely down my face. I took my robe off, dumped it on the floor and curled up on the chair, crying and crying until I succumbed to sleep.


End file.
